ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on state education, beginning with an examination of the relationship between education and the state. It looks at the New Right education policies that were consolidated by the last Conservative government. The chapter then focuses on New Labour's policies on education, and their perceived role in the Labour government's 'modernisation' programme for Britain. It critically assesses the degree to which New Labour's approach involves continuity with the neo-liberal agenda, in particular with regard to the nature of New Labour's discourse of welfare and the degree to which its construction of the 'welfare subject' is a factor in perpetuating exclusion through education policies. The chapter evaluates to what extent New Labour's proposals on education will reverse the exclusionary processes of previous policies and practices. The presuppositions on which New Labour policies are based are generally treated as self-evident by the government. It is assumed that improvements in education will lead to economic improvements.
